​Hey everybody,


We know we promised you a look at the Necrophage last time, but they’re not easy beasts to tame. It’ll take us a little longer to wrangle the hive into presentable shape, so while we wait for the swarm to grow, we figure we have a moment to take a look at the world of Saiadha itself and some of the other dangers lurking there.



First of all, let’s address a question that’s been floating around since we announced the game: If Saiadha is an ocean planet, what about naval gameplay?

Short answer: There isn’t any.

You’d think that being stuck on an island would push the factions of Saiadha to invent sturdy ships and reliable navigation, but none of them dare venture far. The waters of Saiadha are incredibly dangerous. Violent storms frequently rage across the world, dashing any hopes of naval exploration against quite literal rocks. Even when the waters are still, they are far from peaceful. Powerful beasts and titanic predators lurk beneath the waves, ready to drag any poor unfortunate soul they can get their teeth or tentacles on down below the waves.


Saiadha has never really been a safe and peaceful world, but the Starfall has brought new risks and dangers. Ancient powers seem to wake as nature itself acts in new, strange, and unpredictable ways. Darkness blankets the land for long periods of time as howling winds and pouring rain drive your people back to shelter.

During these Monsoons, your armies can collect special curiosities that will only appear during this season, not only giving you a lot of Dust, but also restoring movement and health to your armies. It’s an excellent time to be aggressive and maybe start some trouble with your neighbors. Or perhaps it would be wiser to stay home and defend your cities, as minor factions become unusually aggressive during the Monsoon season and will attack you on sight. Not the best of times for your scouts to be out and about by themselves.


After every Monsoon, the sea level on Saiadha rapidly drops, revealing new land and connecting plateaus that once were islands. This will expand your diplomatic or military horizons as you meet other empires and vie for control of the new regions. The deeper these regions once lay below the ocean, the richer they will be in resources, but the greater the dangers lurking in them.


In any region that used to be underwater, you may discover a Fortress occupied by brigands and a powerful tyrant. As they pose a threat to any nearby settlements, you cannot claim the region until you face them in battle and drive them out of their hideout. However, once you have defeated them, their loot is yours to claim, and you may even establish an outpost for free.


Starting with the second Monsoon, the very ground itself is ravaged by the upheaval the Starfall brought to Saiadha. Deep Rifts open across the land, blocking your path and releasing menacing creatures from the depths of the planet. These Doomwraiths and their accompanying Horrors will settle in a region and corrupt its soil, threatening the peace and prosperity of your realm.

The fastest way to get rid of them is to send an army to take them out in open battle, but if your troops are occupied elsewhere, it might be more convenient to pay a hunter to deal with them or bait them away.

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Hello everyone,


Welcome back to our Dev Diaries.

Last time we told you about cities and how to manage your whole empire, but this week it is time to get our hands dirty and face our enemies on the field of battle. Let’s talk about combat in ENDLESS™ Legend 2, and how it has changed from our previous games.


In Endless Legend 2, you move your units across the map grouped into armies to explore and perform various actions like claiming territory. If you encounter an enemy army and come to blows with it, a small section of the map is marked as the battlefield. Any other of your armies in that area can join the battle as reinforcements, but only one of them. The units in these two armies are then placed individually within the deployment zones marked for each side of the battle.


Once the battle properly begins, players take turns commanding their armies. Starting with the attacker, each player acts with all of their units in any order before handing control over to the other player, and a battle can have up to 8 of these rounds before it ends, all contained within a single game turn.

Positioning your units carefully is often crucial in battle, as the terrain will affect them, such as forest providing cover and high ground improving your attacks. Once the enemy closes rank with you, however, repositioning can become quite dangerous, as moving away from enemies will trigger attacks of opportunity. Choose your engagements wisely!

Picking the right position and target for each unit becomes even more important when you take the various unit abilities into account.

Every Major Faction has a battle affinity that grants their units a special effect in combat. For example, the Kin of Sheredyn gain a shield that absorbs damage for standing in tight formation, whereas units in Aspect armies grant a damage bonus to their allies when they defend.

All units also have abilities that can affect them positively or negatively in combat. Some of these are granted by their unit type, such as infantry units gaining better defense in formation or ranged units taking a damage penalty when engaged in melee. Other abilities are specific to each unit, such as the Aspect Sentries being particularly deadly if they hold position whereas the Kin Archers are better at attacking enemies engaged in melee. Most units will also gain new abilities or improve their existing ones as you upgrade them.

Your heroes are perhaps the most deadly and versatile combatants on the field, as they can gain powerful active abilities by spending skill points or equipping certain gear. Whether they are attacks that hit multiple enemies or apply penalties to them, or skills that grant healing, shields, or other bonuses to their allies, these active abilities can have a massive impact on the battle in a single round.

Long time Amplitude fans will know that in Endless Legend 1 we tried a rather unusual system for our combat: After a section of the map was marked as the battlefield, you would give all your orders at once at the start of the turn, then your units would try to carry them out in initiative order, automatically picking new orders if the ones you had given were impossible.

This was meant to help maintain a balance between the time spent fighting battles and the time spent managing your empire. In practice, the system was difficult to understand and master, and often frustrating for our players when their units made bad decisions and got themselves killed. Many players did not find the system quick, either, as they took time to carefully consider how the AI-controlled units might act if their plans went wrong.

So, in Humankind we gave players direct control of their units. While some players missed aspects of the Endless Legend combat system, many others saw this as a move in the right direction. A lot of players really enjoyed the battles in Humankind, and for some it was even their favorite part of the game.

With Endless Legend 2’s combat, we want to evolve this system further and push it into a more fantasy-themed direction. Almost every unit has special abilities that define how you use it in combat, and your heroes can intervene much more actively in your battles than merely attacking with their weapon.


We hope you like the direction we are taking for the combat in Endless Legend 2. Let us know what you think in the comments, and stay tuned for a look at the Necrophages soon!

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We are including more and more people from the community to get early feedback and improve the game based on your feedback. If it is something you're interested in, please sign up for the program (you will require an Amplifier's account + Steam Link).

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